Man subdued, arrested at dual gun rallies in Concord

Ralph Demicco (middle), of Candia, argues with a gun regulation advocate during a gun control rally supported by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

(TAEHOON KIM / Monitor staff)

Daniel Musso, of Brentwood, is apprehended by law enforcement officers during a gun control rally supported by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

(TAEHOON KIM / Monitor staff)

Gun regulation advocate Corinne Dodge, of Derry, stands in front of gun rights activists during a gun control rally organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

(TAEHOON KIM / Monitor staff)

"Chez" Perez (2nd from left), of Nashua, yells during Rev. Stephen R. Silver's (right) speech during a gun control rally sponsored by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

(TAEHOON KIM / Monitor staff)

Gun regulation advocates and gun rights activists clashed at a gun control rally sponsored by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

(TAEHOON KIM / Monitor staff)

Gun regulation advocate John Cantin speaks to the crowd at a gun control rally organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

(TAEHOON KIM / Monitor staff)

Gun rights activist James Bernier, of Allenstown, waves a flag during a gun control rally organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013. "I want to protect my right to a firearm," Bernier said.

(TAEHOON KIM / Monitor staff)

Allison Mcintosh, of Chichester, gets her picture taken while holding a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle at a gun control rally organized by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in Concord on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

A man was arrested and apparently stun-gunned by the Concord police outside the State House yesterday while demonstrating against a gun regulation rally.

Based on video and witness accounts, the man, Daniel Musso, 52, of Brentwood was restrained by the police after touching one of them on the shoulders, and apparently stun-gunned seconds later for resisting arrest. The police would not confirm last night whether a stun gun had been used to subdue Musso.

An officer had been holding a stun gun near Musso’s chest after he was initially restrained, and one activist said he heard a pop and a buzz as the suspect, who had been standing, fell to his knees. Pictures taken after Musso was on the ground also show the end of the stun gun, which deploys when used, lying next to him on the pavement.

Musso was transported to the Merrimack County jail and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and two counts of simple assault, according to a police press release. He is being held on $5,000 cash bail and will be arraigned at 11 a.m. today.

Minutes before the arrest, Musso had approached and interrupted a speaker at the main rally, which was part of a multistate bus tour sponsored in part by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and is trying to raise awareness of gun violence and push for expanded background checks. The speaker, John Cantin, whose daughter was shot and killed by her husband in Manchester in 2009, continued speaking at a podium on the sidewalk next to the bus as Musso, standing to his right, glanced over his shoulder and asked him repeatedly about several of his talking points.

“What kind of gun?” Musso asked, as Cantin said that women living in homes with a gun-owning domestic abuser are hundreds of times more likely to be killed. “A pellet gun, a machine gun – what kind of gun, sir?”

Eric Reed, president of Gun Rights Across America, one of the organizations that staged the counter-rally, said last night that Musso’s conduct had been “out of line.”

“I do not support the behavior that he displayed,” Reed said, adding that he had been briefed by representatives present at the event. “This was advertised as a peaceful rally against Mayor Bloomberg’s organization.”

Emotions had been high leading up to the arrest, with dozens of gun rights advocates – many brandishing firearms and signs – chanting loudly as gun regulation speakers talked about and read the names of victims recently killed by gun violence.

“Shame on you,” they repeatedly yelled at one point, as the Rev. Stephen Silver of the First Congregational Church of Lebanon called on the crowd to pray for the more than 6,000 people who have died from gun violence nationally since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 children and six adults dead in December.

There were more than 100 activists for each side at the event.

The bus tour, sponsored by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group co-founded by Bloomberg, began Friday in Newtown on the six-month anniversary of the shootings there. Concord was the third stop on its planned 100-day, 25-state tour.

Paul Smith, 57, of Concord, said he came to promote the need for more comprehensive background checks for would-be gun owners. A therapist who said he works regularly with victims of violence, Smith called the counter-rally unnecessary and distracting.

“I see firsthand what violence can do,” he said. “And something as reasonable as a background check, I mean it’s just ridiculous that these people (the gun rights advocates) are this angry. There are people over there wielding assault weapons. Right there, there’s a guy with a shotgun. It’s just insane.”

The rally was also meant to call attention to U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s vote against expanded background checks earlier this spring, which critics have said did not align with the position that most New Hampshire residents hold. Ayotte has said she supports fixing rather than expanding what she sees as a broken system.

“Senator Ayotte voted for legislation that had bipartisan support to fix the current broken background check system, increase the prosecution of those who illegally seek to obtain firearms, and provide additional resources for school safety, while protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” spokesman Jeff Grappone wrote in an email last night. “She also worked across party lines to pass an amendment to strengthen the nation’s mental health system.”

Gun rights advocate Linda Siwik, 61, of Epping said at the beginning of the rally that she opposed any new legislation that would deny gun owners their Second Amendment rights.

“I don’t think there should be any laws written against the guns,” she said. “It should be against the people who have the guns, or the people who misuse them.”

“Criminals are going to get the guns no matter how many laws are in the books,” she added. “They can write thousands of laws, it doesn’t matter. (If someone) wants a gun, they’re going to get it.”

Siwik described deaths from gun violence as “horrific.”

“But, you know, kids die of cancer,” she said. “Is that any less serious?”

Later, another gun rights advocate made a similar point, shouting from the back of the crowd that people die all the time from automobile accidents.

“Automobiles are regulated,” Smith later said, referring to the comment. “There are all these hoops you have to go through to drive an automobile. You can’t just randomly get behind the wheel and drive. Their logic doesn’t make any sense. Background checks do.”

Gun rights advocate David Vicente, 29, of Salem said he thought the bus tour and its message were pointless.

Throughout the day leading up to the rally, which started at 5 p.m., people took to the podium next to the bus to read the names of gun violence victims. One of the readers, Keith Thompson, a 49-year-old retail manager from Brookline, said he had been moved by the Sandy Hook shootings to speak up for enhanced regulation.

He called for a repeal of the state’s “stand your ground” law and the implementation of new “common sense regulation” – “registration, training, holding people responsible when they’re irresponsible with their guns,” he said.

“The way things are being done, they’re making more and more likely that someone is going to be irresponsible with a gun and unaccountable,” Thompson said. “I don’t think this is about gun rights. I think people rights are much more important – public safety, the right to pursue happiness, the right to feel safe in your public place.”

About 11 a.m., electrician Denis Beaudoin, 49, of Pittsfield said he hadn’t planned on stopping by the event.

“Pretty impressive, though, isn’t it?” he said, pointing at a digital display of the number of victims, which continued to tick up throughout the day. “That’s a huge number, isn’t it?”

Beaudoin said he sympathized with gun rights advocates, but also supported enhanced regulation.

“I don’t think a background check is gun control, I think that’s gun management,” he said. “I’m a gun carrier. I’m not worried about the government taking my guns.”

(Jeremy Blackman can be reached at 369-3319, jblackman@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JBlackmanCM.)

The man arrested at yesterday’s gun control rally outside the State House was hit with a Taser, the Concord police confirmed this morning. Daniel Musso, 52, a gun-rights advocate who had been protesting against the rally, was restrained by officers after touching one of them on the shoulders and apparently resisting arrest, according to video footage, photographs and witness accounts …

Bloombergs list of names was compiled by Slate. If you are going to read a list of names compiled by Slate, without checking, you deserve to be run out of town on a rail.

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/19/2013

Rubbish. You'd be better informed, and less opinionated, if you read more of Slate and less of the execrable Granite Grok. Here's what Slate says about their list: "...The interactive is not a list of "victims" of gun violence—in fact, the interactive never uses that word, for this very reason. It is a pure accounting of deaths, provided, as our original partner in the project @GunDeaths notes, "regardless of cause and without comment. The interactive includes a link to a news story about every death, so that anyone reading it can check the sourcing and see how the death happened. Tsarnaev makes the list because he was killed by gunfire—the linked story clearly explains that he was a bombing suspect killed by cops in a gunfight. The list also includes other wrongdoers killed by law enforcement, people who committed suicide, people who died in accidents, and people killed by criminals. And it includes Sean Collier, the MIT cop allegedly murdered by the Tsarnaevs."

GWTW wrote:

06/20/2013

That I read this decidedly left leaning newspaper on a daily basis, probably means I am exposed to a wider diversity of opinions than you.

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/20/2013

Not very likely.

Common_Grind wrote:

06/20/2013

It has never been established that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s death was caused by gunfire in the first place. According to Wikipedia, “The exact sequence of events remains clouded in confusion, as do key details. According to police, [after he was shot] Tamerlan's younger brother Dzhokhar ran him over with an SUV and dragged him with the vehicle for 20 feet (6.1 m). He was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where, despite efforts to revive him by emergency medical personnel, he was pronounced dead from several critical injuries, massive blood loss, and cardiac and respiratory arrest.. ... His death certificate gives cause of death as gunshot wounds to the torso and extremities, AS WELL AS blunt trauma to the head and torso. It confirmed that he was struck and dragged by a vehicle, IN ADDITION to being shot.” Given all that, including his name on the list constitutes padding of the numbers in the worst possible way -- padding them with a poison pill. It is weird and grotesque.

The fact that you want to accuse Tsarnaev and have him included on the list or that Slate "understand it" is truly a snapshot and great example of what is wrong with this country.

RabbitNH wrote:

06/19/2013

I watched the video on WMUR website. A couple of thoughts for perspective.
Musso should not have gone up where the guy was speaking. Should have let him speak then ask questions. But Musso did leave after the speaker asked him to. Mus
so ws acting like an idiot.
Cops were already called and approached Musso. Musso was not combative, and in fact was smiling. I did see him try to tun the cop around by putting his had on his shoulder to get him to face the camera. But I also saw what went down after that. Musso was not resisting arrest in my opinion, he was actually being over taken by the cops. Cops overreacted.
Left out was the fact that one name was on the list as being a victim of gun violence. The Boston Bomber. Now why would his name be included with innocent kids who were killed?
This is a staged show to incite emotions. When you include the Boston Bomber as a victim who's name deserves to be read, we are asking for problems.

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/19/2013

What evidence do you have to support your claim that the "Boston Bomber's name was one of the names read? I'm highly skeptical. He was no victim of gun violence. It strikes me as an absurd claim that should not be repeated without proof. Absent that proof, you're repeating innuendo that impugns the integrity of those who peaceably assembled.

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/19/2013

I stand corrected. I just went to a news site to catch up headlines and saw Tsarnaev's name listed as having been read. That his name was listed and read was stupid and wrong.

GWTW wrote:

06/19/2013

Someone should check all the other names now...to see if more were stupid and wrong.

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/19/2013

Tsarnaev's name should probably not have been read for the purposes of the Bloomberg rally; but I think Slate's explanation for his inclusion on their list is reasonable. Outlaws shot and killed are still victims of gun violence. Surely you can see that much, if you see Musso as a victim of police 'violence'.

GWTW wrote:

06/20/2013

"That his name was listed and read was stupid and wrong."

GWTW wrote:

06/20/2013

Osama Bin Laden....victim of gun violence.

Common_Grind wrote:

06/19/2013

Two things we learn here about New Hampshire “gun rights” advocates: (1) Just by showing up they make by far the best argument for expanded background checks; and (2) They are the ones with the bad hairpieces. (Oh, and Rabbit: Don’t you think it is pretty lame to blame the messenger?)

ItsaRepublic wrote:

06/20/2013

Now that is pretty funny but the one thing we know about the No More Names advocates is that (1) they are emotionally driven and allow those emotions to stand in the way of their reasoning, 2) You could put them in the bar scene from Star Wars and it would be equally entertaining as a movie. I have never seen so many people who lack humor or are so miserable in my life!

GWTW wrote:

06/19/2013

What is interesting about Bloomberg is his support of stop and frisk, which has really put a dent in gun violence in his city. Take the guns away from criminals. Seems to work well. Too bad his liberal friends just sued, citing 4th amendment violations, and of course, racial profiling.

RabbitNH wrote:

06/19/2013

Well yeah Bruce, freedom of speech is always an issue for you when it is used by folks who disagree with your stances, right?
Then that freedom is labeled bullying and intimidation. Like the folks praying outside the center.
As far as this incident goes, I suggest you wait a few days, and you will see another article by the CM that is not based on what they think happened.
Bloomberg is doing this on purpose. He is financing this to see if he can encourage folks to get emotional, with the hope that the news media will run with it to put the message out there that gun owners need to have their guns taken away from them because they are all out of control. And also to slam Ayotte.

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/19/2013

The counter-demonstrators, "dozens of gun rights advocates – many brandishing firearms and signs – chanting loudly as gun regulation speakers talked about and read the names of victims recently killed by gun violence" would seem to misunderstand the 1st Amendment as much as they misread the 2nd. Musso's behavior, according to accounts from eyewitnesses, was clearly out of line, and amounted to bullying and intimidation of those with whom he disagreed.

GWTW wrote:

06/19/2013

"dozens of gun rights advocates – many brandishing firearms and signs – chanting loudly as gun regulation speakers talked about and read the names of victims recently killed by gun violence"...wonder why they were chanting loudly????????????????????

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/19/2013

Wonder why they were chanting loudly? Good question. Religious reasons? Blocking likely cognitive dissonance? Because they couldn't cover their ears because they were 'carrying' as a show of thoughtful, reasonable, and welcoming... intimidation?

GWTW wrote:

06/20/2013

Maybe they were chanting because a known terrorist was named. Doing so, as we agree, was stupid and wrong.

ItsaRepublic wrote:

06/19/2013

NO MORE NAMES is an astroturf movement. There are already background checks in New Hampshire. The government does not enforce the laws on the books now, adding more laws is just window dressing.

Nashaway wrote:

06/19/2013

No doubt the despicable National Rifle Association leadership, greedy gun manufacturers, scofflaw gun dealers, arms traffickers & fringe extremists prefer the status quo. But the good people of New Hampshire want common sense policies & legislation to reduce gun violence and promote public health & safety.

MyTurn2 wrote:

06/20/2013

The good people of NH do not want more regulations. The only people you will be hurting on the ones that follow the law. Outlaws don't care because they don't follow laws...that's what makes them outlaws.

Bruce_Currie wrote:

06/19/2013

Your definition of an astroturf group is incorrect. An astroturf group one that purports to have wide support but really represents only a tiny special interest. Bloomberg's group has wide support among the general public.